Saving Power Creek*

2012 Merit Award
By Jacob Hartsoch

Saving Power Creek

I found you here, flush with mud,
twisted over your shovel in silence,
the headwaters choked in silt.

Dig, you said, and shoulder to shoulder,
we learned about each other,
until after dusk the sound came back,
metallic whir through culverts
a sparkle in your ear.

My boys should know of this I think.

When the spawning starts we come again,
work down through the drainage,
slant light popping through alders.

You kneel down next to a discarded roe,
put a single egg in my son’s tiny hand,
pink on pink.

Further down we spot the coho,
taller than the flow, skittering upstream,
the boys dancing in rubber boots.

*Copyright 2012 by Jacob Hartsoch. Placard design by Egress Studio.

Another Kind of Leaving*

2012 Walk Award
By Judy Orvik

Another Kind of Leaving
(remembering Nancy)

We read stories about the first women adventurers
to each other in your tent above the Arctic circle,
at the end of each day’s trek.
We followed ancient caribou trails
deeper into the country while
carrying the weight of our bounty on our backs.

Mornings held the retelling close
as we picked our course carefully, listening
as wolves sang old songs from memory.
We talked of leaving this country
on a day like today between migrations
without knowing you would be the first to depart.

That plane of yours is still
stuck in the tundra somewhere.
They say your wings fell off.
I imagine the moss growing over your skeleton
softening you into an otherwise hostile terrain.

*Copyright 2012 by Judy Orvik. Placard design by Egress Studio.

An Intimate Look at a Slug*

2012 Walk Award
By Carole MacRury

An Intimate Look at a Slug

Poor slug—
like you, we secrete
but prefer to keep our moistness
hidden from the public eye;
we perspire,
slow our flow with astringents,
deodorize; stay dry.
A repugnant moist muscle,
we watch your naked gloss
pull like molasses
across the paths we walk;
your horns palpate
and you reach — retract — reach
towards a glutinous future.
With a moue of disgust,
we watch you smear
through the dust of the world,
an unshelled mollusk,
unable to hide; vulnerable
to the cling of debris,
to dryness.
Poor slug
without a shell;
you not only repel,
you remind us.

*Copyright 2012 by Carole MacRury. Placard design by Egress Studio.

I laid out red thread on the grass*

2012 Walk Award
By Cindi Williamson

I laid out red thread on the grass

I laid out red thread on the grass
and a wad of silver hair from my brush,
and left them
where the brown birds might find them
and weave them into their April beds
to warm the pale glass eggs.
I found a nest, like an altar, in the laurel branch
and another between a flock of clothes pins
on the old rope lines. All my leftovers were there.
Remade, the way you took my broken bits
and created a feast of marriage for us.
The way my son might offer up
the pollen of his sadness
and find that it has become honey in the comb.
We watch them
until the autumn rain melts the mud
that binds them,
how the crushed blue shells and hollow bones,
on a thousand filaments for feathers,
give rise to life;
the creation of winged creatures, who,
on delicate air, trusting nothing
and everything, fall
into emptiness
and fly.

*Copyright 2012 by Cindi Williamson. Placard design by Egress Studio.

Asperger’s*

2012 Merit Award
By Finnigan Cooper, 5th grade

Asperger’s

I have Asperger’s as you can see,
and most of you don’t get life to me,
I hate it when people yell all around,
my brain can’t compute all the sound,
all brains spark but mine gets on fire,
when you tell jokes that are not in desire,
it unlocks memories of things that are sad,
I really can’t help it if you think I’m bad,
brains are like highways and thoughts are like cars,
but they go straight like most of ours,
but my highway has stops and smaller roads attached,
so my thoughts pick up more thoughts
so more thoughts are latched,
my brain records movies, pictures, and shows,
I even record movies of my very own,
I plan things in my head when I run around,
I even watch them with real life sound,
sometimes Asperger’s can be such a pain
but my life is nowhere done and I have much to gain.

*Copyright 2012 by Finnigan Cooper. Placard design by Egress Studio.

My Mother’s Afterlife*

From time to time, in no special order, we will post winning poems from the 2012 Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest along with (very reduced-size) images of the placards that will be displayed inside Whatcom Transportation Authority buses. The complete list of winners from all years is available on the Winners page, with links to the individual poems on this site.

2012 Merit Award
By Elizabeth Vignali

My Mother’s Afterlife

She prepares for our arrival—
brushes pine needles off the table,
unfurls the checkered cloth
with a snap
of her wrist.
Mourning doves hush
as she stacks clacking
kindling next to the firepit
dead with ashes.
When she ceases
they cry to each other
across the shrouding mist.
She sets out canvas
camping chairs and rests
in the one nearest the pond.
She has years to wait.

A nymph lumbers from under
the verdant surface
onto a cow lily and dances
into its dragonfly shape.
New wings unfurled, it sees her
with many eyes.
It clings to the old body, its pale
new one jewelling blue-green.

*Copyright 2012 by Elizabeth Vignali. Placard design by Egress Studio.

contest-makers…

If you’ve ever organized a contest — poetry or otherwise — and all the related events and materials and funding and communications, you know it takes a lot of time and energy to make it work. This group of writers, teachers, artists and businesspeople — all volunteers — is responsible for the success of the 7th annual Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest.

They are, from left: (seated) Judy Kleinberg and Sheila Sondik (co-chairs); (standing) Nancy Canyon, Rachel Ballard, Joan Packer, Susan J. Erickson, Ellie Rogers, Tim Lucy, Christine Kendall and Norman L. Green.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

If you love poetry, live in Whatcom County and have time and skills you’d like to apply to the success of next year’s contest (starting with a meeting this Sunday, May 20), please leave a Comment on this post or send a message to BoyntonPoetryContest AT hotmail DOT com and we’ll contact you!
—–
photo by Karee Wardrop

look and listen!

The winning poets from the 2012 Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest stand in front of a wall displaying all of the poems submitted to this year’s contest. Photo by Nancy Canyon.

Did you miss the awards ceremony? Did you attend and wish you could do it all over again? Now you can listen to it, right here. The podcast is in two parts. Click on PART 1 and then PART 2 to hear the full ceremony. The podcast also resides on the poetrynight site (look for the date 5/10/12). The first voice you will hear is emcee Jim Bertolino.

Our special thanks to Boris D. Schleinkofer, who recorded and mastered the podcast.

Thanks again and again!

It takes a lot more than a village to make a poetry contest and the Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest extends our thanks to everyone that contributed to this year’s success:

In particular, we salute teachers, students and poets throughout Whatcom County and their families, friends and fans.

The contest is enormously grateful for the generous financial support of
Luther Allen; Anonymous; Rachel Ballard; Phyllis Boernke; Paula Brown; The Boynton Family; Grandson of Sue C. Boynton; Solon & Sharon Boynton; Nancy Canyon; Karen Cook; Megan Crouse & Chris Morton; Corey Denos; Drake Family Fund of the Whatcom Community Foundation; Charles Dyer & Bert Monroe; Susan J. Erickson & George Lindeman; Arlene Feld; Linda & Paul Fisher; Norman L. Green & Sherwin Sarjeant; Libby Hazen; Christine Kendall & Jack Kienast; Elizabeth Kerwin; J.I. Kleinberg; David & Judith Laws; Suzanne & Tim Lucy; Peggie Merlin; Brenda Miller; Marla & Steve Morrow; Pam Muehlhausen; Martin & Sheila Nickerson; Rena Priest & Andrew Shaffer; Chuck & Dee Robinson; Ellie Rogers; Colleen & Harvey Schwartz; and Sheila Sondik & Paul Sarvasy.

The contest also deeply appreciates the gifts of time and other resources from
The Bellingham Herald; awards ceremony emcee, Jim Bertolino; BTV10 and Dal Neitzel; Bellingham Public Library; Birchwood Garden Club; Ciao Thyme; Community Food Co-op; Copies Now; contest founder, George Drake; Egress Studio; Hypersphere Web Design; Carolyn McCarthy & Kent Chasson; Jerry McGarity; Mindport Exhibits; contest judges, Jeffrey Morgan and Betty Scott; our workshop instructors, Sheila Nickerson, Paul Piper and Cindi Williamson; Jan Crook Pierson; Boris Schleinkofer; Village Books; Karee Wardrop; Whatcom County Library System; Whatcom Poetry Series; Whatcom Transportation Authority; and Woods Coffee.

We couldn’t have done it without our tireless contest committee: J.I. Kleinberg and Sheila Sondik (co-chairs), Rachel Ballard, Nancy Canyon, Susan J. Erickson, Norman L. Green, Christine Kendall, Tim Lucy, Joan Packer and Ellie Rogers.

Thanks, one and all!

The Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest is a program of Whatcom Poetry Series, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Tax-deductible donations (payable to Whatcom Poetry Series — note Boynton on memo line) are gratefully accepted at: Sue Boynton Poetry Contest, PO Box 1192, Bellingham, WA 98227

Thank You, Whatcom County!

What a wonderful evening of poetry and celebration. The awards ceremony for the 7th Annual Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest was fun, delicious and inspiring. The poems selected by judges Betty Scott and Jeffrey Morgan were filled with astute reflection, humor and well-honed language. Plus, they were read beautifully by the poets.

The dome room at the Bellingham Cruise Terminal was packed with an attentive audience. Through the windows that served as a backdrop to the poets, the audience was treated to a view of a perfect May evening, across Bellingham Bay all the way to the snowy peaks of Canada.

There’s more to come… The event was podcast by poet Boris Schleinkofer and we’ll post a link to the podcast soon. In the coming months, most of the winning poets will be taped for broadcast by Bellingham TV 10 and their readings will be shown between other programming on the local station and also posted on YouTube, with links on this page.

By about July, we expect to have the Walk Award plaques completed for installation in front of the Bellingham Public Library, and the colorful placards, designed by Egress Studio, delivered to Whatcom Transportation Authority for their year-long bus tour around the county. We’ll be posting the placards on this site as well and they’ll be linked to the poems listed on the Winners page.

We’re extremely grateful to our judges, donors (both $ and in-kind) audience and planning committee. And we’re especially grateful to all of the poets throughout Whatcom County who submitted poems to the contest, whether or not they were selected as winners.

We’ll offer a little more gratitude in a coming post, but for the moment, special thanks to Dean Kahn and photographer Andy Bronson from The Bellingham Herald, who covered last night’s event and were inadvertently left off the thank-you list.

Thank you, one and all…and congratulations for participating in and supporting this wonderful community event!
—–
chapbook of winning poems designed by Ellie Rogers
cover photo of Mt. Shuksan © Marc Griffin